Type 56 carbine
Not to be confused with the Type 56 assault rifle. The Type 56 carbine (Chinese: 56式半自动步枪, pinyin: 56 shì bàn zì dòng bù qiāng, lit."Type 56 semi-automatic rifle") is the Chinese copy of the Soviet SKS manufactured in the late 1950s and entered service with the PLA. History The Type 56 was designed by the Chinese in the 1950s as it was felt that a semi-automatic rifle fit their style of warfare; the rifle entered service in 1956, hence its designation. The Type 56 acted as the workhorse of the People's Liberation Army for some 30 years until 1985 when it was completely replaced by the Type 81 and Type 56 assault rifles as it was regarded that the effectiveness of the former Type 56 had decreased. The weapon was mass produced at several different Chinese arsenals, indicated by a triangular stamp with a number inside. Most of them (It is thought to number 24,000,000 of the unknown total produced, but unconfirmed) were produced at Arsenal 26 (Jianshe), while there are over a hundred known arsenal stamps on various rifles, not even including the modernized variants made after 1980. Design Details The Type 56 is identical in operation to the SKS, being gas-operated. The rifle feeds from ten-round stripper clips inserted through the top. The bottom of the magazine can be opened to release any rounds which may remain in the weapon. As far as manufacturing standards and minor design details, the Type 56 carbine acted as the basis for the Albanian version of the SKS, and is as such internally identical to the UM Gransh Model 561.https://www.forgottenweapons.com/the-albanian-sks-a-few-different-details/ Serial numbers Compared to the other variants of the SKS, the Type 56 carbine has a rather unique dating system. The first/first two digits in the serial number (depending on if it has a 6 or 7 digit serial number) will most often indicate its year, starting at 1 (1956) and going up to 24 (1980), counted in millions produced (Though it isn't confirmed nor likely that 1,000,000 exactly were made per year, so it is more a way of saying "This is the first/second/third etc rifle made of the 15th year." than an actual count of models produced at that moment.). Of note is that there is an odd gap between 1971-1977 where production almost seems to have halted entirely. While this is probably not the case, those years are generally unaccounted for due to lack of evidence. This does not work 100% of the time however, as some later serials were only 5 digits, but the first two digits most often still indicated the year, opting to remove a few unnecessary zeroes (ie. 20111 meaning "Year 20, 111th rifle produced compared to the traditional 2000111).http://chinesesks.weebly.com/ Aftermarket modifications A common practice with SKS-type rifles is to use aftermarket parts and pieces to personalize it, be it a more modern stock with a pistol grip, telescoping/folding butt and rails, or just a simple black polymer stock, or even a Dragunov-style hand grip stock. Type 56 carbines are a particular target for this modification, as they are cheaper than most, if not all, other variants and likely have more produced than any of those said variants. However, after modification, the value tends to drop significantly, to the point sometimes where the resale cost of the modified rifle can even just total the cost of the modifications that have been added, which is typically less than an unmodified and matching rifle. References Category:Semi-automatic rifles